Anxiety – When to seek help_Answer

It clearly sounds like you have been experiencing symptoms of anxiety and might be developing some kind of anxiety problem or disorder. Anxiety can have both psychological and/or physical causes. Everybody experiences some anxiety. This can take the form of nervousness, varying levels of worry about a person or situation and sometimes a feeling of agitation, restlessness, or jitteriness. For most people this is not something they experience all the time, but rather comes and goes with stressful situations. This is normal anxiety.

Some percent of people have a tendency toward anxiety and may have a slight degree of worry or obsessiveness all the time. These traits are just personality traits and they are very bothersome to some people and not too bothersome to others. Some people seek treatment for low-level chronic anxiety and some do not. When anxiety becomes acute (very intense) or chronic and is at moderate to severe levels, it is important to seek help.

Chronic and severe anxiety frequently have both psychological and physical components. People who have family members that suffer from anxiety often develop those problems as well at some point in life. In your case, it sounds like you don’t have a history of severe anxiety and this has developed rather suddenly. If you can’t identify a particular stressor or trauma that has triggered your anxiety, it may be a chemical brain imbalance that is biological in nature.

You should see your health practitioner and see what strategies she recommends for addressing this issue. She or he may recommend meditation, exercise, learning deep breathing techniques and other ways of controlling your symptoms. Others may recommend natural calming agents such as herbs and supplements to assist in reducing your anxiety symptoms.

These are effective for some people and are definitely worth trying but some anxiety problems are too severe to be corrected by these methods. In those cases, anti-anxiety medications or anti-depressants (many of which actually also treat anxiety) may be prescribed. Because anxiety problems can also make you “anxious about being anxious” there is almost always some benefit to seeing a counselor or therapist who understands and treats anxiety problems to work through the psychological dimensions and fears that can arise and coordinate care with your physician. You may also discover that there are actually situational triggers or stressors that you didn’t realize might be contributing to your anxiety.

Please be assured that in the great majority of cases, anxiety can be effectively controlled and treated. This is especially true for people who don’t have a pre-existing tendency toward anxiety in the first place. Even people with biologically based anxiety disorders or anxiety disorders that developed as a result of trauma can be greatly helped. Anxiety is a common part of life that sometimes gets out of control. Try not to worry about being worried; just seek help and you can get relief from your anxiety problems.